Produce growers in south Texas are imploring the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and Department of State to stand up to Mexico on water rights of the Rio Grande River. Mexico fails to uphold its agreement on river water rights, which has put South Texas growers in a perilous situation. At issue is adherence to the 1944 Rio Grande Water Treaty.

April Flowers, marketing director for Lone Star Citrus Growers, in Mission, TX, on Oct. 10 indicates to FreshFruitPortal.com that, “The drought is becoming alarming for many farmers, but we have not been able to garner productive movement on the issue from our government officials. Falcon Lake reservoir is at a historic low at 8.3% full, and Lake Amistad is only at 32%. Compounding the problem is the fact that September and October are typically our rainy months, but we have only received a negligible amount of rain over the past 6 weeks. Despite this, the U.S. continues to regularly deliver water to Mexico, but Mexico consistently fails to deliver water to the U.S. To be clear, this is negatively impacting farmers on both sides of the border in the mid to lower Rio Grande Valley.  The actions of the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila are unnecessarily withholding water from everyone to the east.”

The Texas International Produce Association in Mission, TX, has shared with FreshFruitPortal.com corresponding background documents. All information below quotes those documents.

Rio Grande Valley (Texas) farmers are faced yet again with the never-ending uncertainty that Mexico won’t deliver its water obligations under the terms of the 1944 treaty. Efforts of International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) Commissioner Giner to recognize the hardships and address the issue with Mexican counterparts is appreciated, however the water has not been delivered by Mexico. 

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Mexico has the water but is choosing not to make the payments in accordance with the Treaty. In fact, since 1992 Mexico has defaulted on three of five cycles and failed to meet annual obligations regularly. What makes this year so concerning is that current water reserves sit at 23% with roughly 1% used/lost per week. In a few weeks, reserves will be below 19% and we will officially be at the lowest levels in 30 years. 

Timing could not be less ideal as vegetable farmers in South Texas are behind on plantings by two to three weeks. Without the water of the Rio Grande, our farmers will be unable to plant or will plant far less for the 2023-2024 vegetable season. That will result in thousands – likely tens of thousands - of local residents who work in the fields, in the warehouses, as well as truck drivers, service providers, material providers such as box and agrochemical sales, and the many other industry-dependent businesses going without work for the next six to eight months (the duration of the local vegetable & fruit seasons). The economic impacts would be devastating for our community. And it is not only fruits and vegetables, but cotton, sugar, corn, sorghum, cattle, and many other sectors – including non-agriculture such as cities – that will suffer. 

South Texas is being starved of water due to the lack of rainfall but also largely due to a failure by Mexico to deliver water to the U.S. per an international treaty. South Texas agriculture will not be able to produce the expected quantity of much-needed fruits and vegetables this coming winter season. Additionally, South Texas residents are in danger of losing access to freshwater supplies. 

Bret Erickson, executive vice president of Little Bear Produce, in Edinburg, TX, a vegetable farming company, says, “We are preparing for a water Armageddon if Mexico does not pay their required water debts to Texas, we are out of water and out of time. Consumers of fresh produce across the country should brace for high priced imported produce at their local grocers.” 

If Little Bear runs out of water at the end of January, it will cost $60- to $70 million in annual sales revenue. The company would have to lay off 50% of their 200 full-time staff, not including the additional 600-700 seasonal people employed for harvesting and facility operations. In addition, the remaining supply of fruits and vegetables will be more expensive for U.S. consumers. The Rio Grande Valley is one of the few regions in the United States that can grow fruit and vegetables during the winter. Foreign producers can offer some supplies, but not all of them, and that will result in higher costs at grocery stores – leading to food inflation and in some cases food insecurity. Residents in the area will soon feel the pain of no water in their daily lives as well. Many rural communities rely on water being delivered to agriculture in order to receive water into their distribution systems (a process known as “push water” to move large amounts of water through canals and similar systems to other locales). Without the water for agriculture to move that water, those citizens will soon have no water either. And many of the rural communities that will be impacted have a higher-than-average percentage of residents living at or below the poverty line. 

Background

A 1944 Treaty between the United States and Mexico set forth rules by which both countries would honor shared-used water resources. The treaty essentially says the U.S. would provide Mexico with a set amount of water annually from the Colorado River; in turn, Mexico would provide water annually to the Rio Grande River for the shared use of Mexico and the United States. Since 1944, the United States has honored its obligations of the treaty and provided water from the Colorado River to Mexico. However, for the last thirty years Mexico has regularly failed to honor its part of the agreement. In fact, Mexico went as far as having the treaty amended so that they could provide their water payments every five years rather than annually, and they still fail to honor their obligations and regularly default. Mexico’s current failure to deliver is not due to a lack of water. It is a conscious effort by the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila to keep the water in 8 reservoirs located in those states. The U.S. State Department has said they cannot intervene because of the treaty amendment. Today, the “shared water” resources available to the 1 million people living in south Texas is at 22% of capacity. The region is using approximately 1% per week.